Sunday, July 13, 2014

Recent Editorials

Here are some of my recent Editorials in The Gulf Today (Posted for my records)

Dazzling Dubai
draws

global
attention again

UAE Vice
President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
Al Maktoum has repeatedly demonstrated that ambition has no limits and that the
word “impossible” is not in his dictionary. The result is showing and Dubai is
now recognised internationally as a city of “world firsts.”

The launch of
the first temperature-controlled city, Mall of the World, which will attract
over 180 million visitors annually, has turned the global spotlight on Dubai
again.

It calls for
immense courage and stupendous enterprise to embark on such a mindboggling
project, but as Sheikh Mohammed once remarked, “The future does not wait for
those who hesitate.”

Even
visualising the concept could leave one amazed. Imagine the largest indoor
theme park in the world where tourists will be able to enjoy a weeklong stay
without the need to leave the city or use a car.

The 7km long
promenades connecting all facilities will be covered during the summer and open
during the winter, ensuring pleasant temperatures throughout the year.

Occupying an
area of 48 million sq. ft., the project will also house the largest shopping
mall in the world with an area of 8 million sq. ft., which will take the form
of an extended retail street network, different to the typical shopping mall
concept currently available in Dubai.

Once completed,
the City is projected to become a year-round destination, welcoming around 180
million visitors annually.

Interestingly,
the new project, developed by Dubai Holding, will introduce a novel concept of
an integrated pedestrian city connected to the mall and offering a wide range
of leisure, retail, cultural, wellness, recreation and hospitality options
under one roof.

No wonder,
Dubai has remained a dream destination for tourists. Last year, Dubai won the
bid to host Expo 2020, a six-month global exhibition that is expected to attract
25 million visitors. Expo-related infrastructure development and operations
will cost around Dhs32.39 billion.

Under Dubai’s
2020 vision, the number of visitors in the emirate is projected to double from
10 million in 2012 to 20 million by 2020. In order to accommodate the visitors,
the number of hotels in Dubai is expected to double.

“Our vision is
clear, infrastructure is ready and confidence in our human resources is high,”
once mentioned Sheikh Mohammed. That should serve as a perfect inspiration for
everyone to work as one team to achieve the goal, with positive energy, strong
determination and the belief that anything is possible.

Refugees
deserve

better
treatment

Australia would
do well to add a bit of compassion in its handling of asylum seekers. It is a matter of deep concern that the Australian authorities
this week returned to Sri Lanka 41 people seeking asylum, apparently without
adequate screening of their protection claims and needs.

The migrants
aboard a boat that was controversially turned back mid-sea say they were
abused, given little food and treated "worse than dogs." One migrant
said the group was denied medication, while another claimed they were supplied
food past their expiry date.

As per norms, every case should be individually
examined on its own merits along with procedural safeguards and due process
guarantees. Any returns, even from the high seas or in the territorial seas of
other States, must be carried out in accordance with international law, under
which handing back victims to their persecutor and collective expulsions are
strictly prohibited.

The problem assumes serious significance, as there are
also reports that a dozen
mothers in an asylum-seekers’ camp attempted suicide so their children can be
settled in Australia. According to The
Sydney Morning Herald, the women tried to kill themselves this week after being
told they would be taken from a detention centre on Christmas Island to Papua
New Guinea or Nauru.

Prime Minister
Tony Abbott insists that he will not be “morally blackmailed.” He told Channel
Nine television: “I don't believe that people ought to be able to say to us,
'Unless you accept me as a permanent resident, I am going to commit self-harm'.
I don't believe any Australian would want us to capitulate to moral blackmail.”

However, not
all politicians in Australia agree with Abbott’s tough posture. Labor
opposition leader Bill Shorten’s message to Abbott was sharp: "It is not
good enough to wash your hands on the safety of human beings."

Greens party
immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young also declared that she had spoken to
people inside the Christmas Island camp and reports of attempted suicide were
true.

It is not clear whether the Australian government has
been given any assurances that the returnees will not face ill treatment upon
their return to Sri Lanka, nor is it clear how the Australian government plans
to monitor their treatment.

Repelling migrants after screening them as
potential asylum-seekers at sea surely appears to be inadequate under
international law. Asylum
seekers arriving by boat should be processed in Australia under a reasonable
Refugee Status Determination system.

Monks
should preach

peace,
not hatred

Continuing sectarian violence targeting
Muslims have exposed deep religious tensions in Buddhist-majority Myanmar as
the nation emerges from decades of military rule.

In
detestable scenes that raise serious questions about the safety of ordinary citizens,
around 300 Buddhists rode motorcycles around Myanmar’s second largest city of
Mandalay on Friday shouting death threats. "We're going to kill all the
Muslims," some shouted as they rode through the streets.

While
police guarded the neighbourhood, it is shocking that they did not disarm the
Buddhists who had been riding around the city, screaming threats. Many Muslims
were forced to flee the area.

Buddhist-Muslim
clashes have left at least 250 people dead and tens of thousands displaced
since fighting first broke out in the western Rakhine state in 2012.

The
latest unrest erupted after baseless accusations were spread on the Internet
centred on a teashop, prompting a crowd of hundreds to gather near the
business, hurling stones and damaging property of Muslims.

Prominent hardline cleric Wirathu, who is based in
Mandalay, posted a link to online allegations against the teashop owners on his
Facebook page just hours before the trouble started. He has since ramped up the
tension with more baseless allegations against Muslims.

Just
recently, a senior UN aid official said she
had witnessed a level of human suffering never seen before in camps for some
140,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, displaced by
Buddhist-Muslim violence sparked in 2012.

Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Kyung-Wha Kang
travelled to the Rakhine and Kachin states, where more than 100,000 people have
been displaced since fighting between ethnic minority insurgents and the
government erupted in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire.

“In Rakhine, I witnessed a level of human suffering in IDP
(internally displaced person) camps that I have personally never
seen before, with men, women, and children living in appalling conditions with
severe restrictions on their freedom of movement, both in camps and isolated
villages,” the UN official noted.

While
Mandalay has a sizeable Muslim minority and also plays host to a group of
nationalist Buddhist monks accused of stoking tension, it has not suffered
religious unrest on this scale before.

Baseless rumours and hate speech against Muslims are spread via social media, compounding the problem.

The
strife threatens to undermine political reforms initiated by the government of
President Thein Sein. The authorities need to act before the situation gets out
of control. Violence has no place in a sane society.

Iraqis suffer as

leaders squabble

It is highly unfortunate that Iraq's parliament has again failed to
break the political deadlock that is holding up the formation of a new
government.

With politics in Baghdad paralysed and Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki
continuing in a caretaker role, militants are gaining ground raising fears that
violence will continue to haunt the distressed country for more time.

What is more disappointing is that the
latest stalemate has come despite the announcement late on Saturday of an
agreement among Sunni Arab lawmakers on a candidate for speaker, a post
traditionally held by the minority group that must be filled before the
government formation process can progress.

A statement from parliament's United for
Change Sunni grouping said Dr Salim Al Juburi had been selected, but went on to
pledge not to accept Maliki for a third term.

Former parliament speaker Osama Al Nujaifi
called for a vote on Juburi, but acting parliament speaker Mahdi Hafez rejected
this, saying not all blocs were in agreement, despite there being more than
enough MPs present to hold a vote.

Disunity among Iraqi politicians is costing
the country dear. Sunday's session was the second time parliament has
completely failed to make progress, with a July 1 meeting breaking down when
MPs traded barbs and enough failed to return after a break that the legislature
was without a quorum.

On the ground, United Nations statistics present a grim scenario. At
least 2,417 people were killed in Iraq in June 2014 alone, the majority of them
civilians. In addition, a total of 2,287 people were injured in attacks in
June.

In fact, 2013 turned out to be Iraq's deadliest since
violence began to ease in 2008. At least 8,868 people were killed in militant
attacks or other acts of violence.

The death toll has significantly increased since the Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis/Isil) started capturing cities in the north
of the country in early June.

Top United Nations officials have rightly warned that failing to move
forward on electing a new speaker, a new president and a new government risks
plunging the country into more chaos.

Iraqi leaders have no choice but to overcome their
deep divisions and move quickly to form a new government that can unite the
country and confront the surging militant threat.

The present political impasse will only serve the interests of those who
seek to divide the people of Iraq and destroy their chances for peace and
prosperity.

At last, Merkel
sends

tough message
to US

Berlin's
expulsion of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station chief in the latest
spy row with the United States is absolutely justified. In fact, it was long
overdue.

The spying
scandal has chilled relations with Washington to levels not seen since
Chancellor Angela Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schroeder opposed the US
invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The decision to
order the CIA representative out came after dramatic reports of US espionage
activity in Germany. Berlin earlier said it had discovered a suspected US spy
in the Defence Ministry.

That came just
days after a German foreign intelligence worker was arrested on suspicion of
being a CIA informant and admitted passing documents to a US contact.

The two
suspected spy cases have fuelled anger in Germany especially after therevelations last year from fugitive
intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of widespread NSA surveillance,
including on Merkel's mobile phone.

Surveillance is
a sensitive issue in Germany, where the memory of the Nazi's Gestapo secret
police and Communist East Germany's Stasi means the right to privacy is
treasured.

It is obvious
that public outrage at the revelations put pressure on Merkel to take action
against the United States.

Germany's
biggest selling newspaper, Bild,
said Merkelordered German secret
services to reduce cooperation with US counterparts to a minimum, while the Sueddeutche Zeitungcalled the expulsion "an unprecedented
act of protest against American arrogance."

In a typical
case of the pot calling the kettle black, US secretary of state John Kerry had
recently condemned Chinese cyber-espionage in unusually strong terms while
wrapping up high-level meetings in Beijing, as reports surfaced that Chinese
hackers breached the US Office of Personnel Management earlier this year.

"Instances
of cyber theft have harmed our business and threatened our nation's
competitiveness. The loss of intellectual property through cyber (spying) has a
chilling effect on innovation and investment,” Kerry had remarked.

After the
Snowden revelations, Berlin demanded that Washington agree to a "no-spy
agreement," but the US remained adamant and refused to make such a
commitment.

Relationship
between any two countries, just like between individuals, is based on trust.
When there is a breach from one side, it is in order that the other party takes
corrective measures to protect itself from being dubbed a mere poodle.

Germany and the
US are close allies working together in crisis-hit countries like Afghanistan
and Ukraine. American snooping activities tantamount to backstabbing.In that sense, Germany’s expulsion move is
unquestionably appropriate.

Crashing roofs,

crushing lives

Building
collapses are increasingly common in India. Among the typical reasons cited are illegal space additions, use of substandard
material or corruption.

It
is astounding that the authorities have failed to initiate serious remedial
action to rein in some unscrupulous builders, despite heavy loss of lives in
such incidents.

Several have died in two building collapses in different
cities over the weekend. It is feared that
more persons could still be trapped under the mass of concrete, steel and sand,
after a 12-storey building under construction collapsed in heavy rain in
Chennai on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa
has stated that the building crashed due to a structural defect. The builder
had apparently violated norms.

Also during the weekend, a 50-year-old dilapidated
four-storeyed building came crashing in a congested area in Delhi claiming
several lives.It was stated that
poor quality material used to build the house weakened its base and it
collapsed due to ongoing construction on an adjacent plot.

In April last year, 74
people were killed when an eight-storey building being constructed illegally in
the Mumbai suburb of Thane caved in. It was the worst building collapse in the
country in decades.

The list is endless. In January, a building under
construction collapsed in the western state of Goa, killing at least 14 people.

Interestingly, Legislator Pratap Sarnaik had obtained
information, in accordance with the Right to Information Act, about the scope
of the construction of illegal buildings in the Thane district of Maharashtra.

The
Hindu reported, “For the nine divisions under the
corporation last year, 505 illegal buildings were demolished, there was action
against 829 (which does not mean they were demolished), and in December, 2012
alone, 104 illegal constructions were detected.”

A
lack of housing, coupled with high population growth, has resulted in
individuals living in low-cost unauthorised buildings or huts on illegal land,
especially in cities like Mumbai.

Owing to skyrocketing real estate prices, millions are
left without a proper roof across the country. Thousands are even forced to
sleep on the pavements.

Repeated building collapses highlight
the dire need for adequate safety procedures. Structural permits should be
issued only after proper inspection.

Corruption is also a huge problem that allows
unscrupulous builders to get clearance for buildings that do not follow the most
basic norms.

The new political leaders have promised happy days for
the people. Nothing would make millions of poor Indians happier than an
affordable, safe roof.

A
soul-searching

time for the
Press

The acquittal
of Rebekah Brooks, former boss of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm, by the Old Bailey court
from charges that she orchestrated
a campaign to hack into phones and bribe officials, brings the “trial of the
century,” prompted by a dirty media scandal, to a dramatic end.

The court has
declared Andy Coulson, Brooks’ former lover and Prime Minister David Cameron's
ex-media chief, guilty of conspiring to intercept messages to break news about
royalty, celebrities and victims of crime in the case that has shaken the
country’s political establishment

The conviction
in one of the most expensive criminal trials in British legal history forced
Cameron to apologise for hiring Coulson in 2007 when the Conservative leader
gave him a "second chance" after he had already quit one of Murdoch's
newspapers as the hacking scandal brewed.

The
nearly eight-month trial was triggered by revelations that for years the News of the World used illegal
eavesdropping to get stories, listening in on the voicemails of celebrities,
politicians and even crime victims.

Three
other defendants — Brooks’ husband Charles, her former secretary Cheryl Carter
and News International security chief Mark Hanna — were acquitted of perverting
the course of justice by attempting to hide evidence from police. Former News of the World
managing editor Stuart Kuttner was found not guilty of phone hacking.

At the height
of the scandal, billions of dollars were wiped from Murdoch’s company's market
value and politicians who once courted his support lined up to denounce his
behaviour. He was called before parliament to answer questions and forced to
drop a planned $12 billion buyout of pay-TV group BSkyB.

He later split
his company in half to appease investors who wanted the newspapers held in a
separate entity from the rest of the business.News Corp said in a statement it had changed the way it did business
since the revelations.

Murdoch was
forced to shut down the News
of the World in disgrace amid a boycott by advertisers just over three years
ago after it emerged that the paper had hacked the voicemails of murdered
schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The verdicts have
serious implications. The decision to wilfully ignore multiple warnings against hiring Andy Coulson will continue to
haunt Cameron. The
acquittal of Rebekah Brooks is a perfect indication that there is no need for draconian
laws to curb the freedom of the press. As Nobel Peace Prize
winner Nelson
Mandela once noted, "A
critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any
democracy.”